Me and DC: I’ve had little time for myself this year. Most of the time I have had has been spent on preparing 3D reference models for later work, an effort that paid off in spades here.Still, for having had so little time to actually draw, I’m content with the progress I have made this year in many regards. While less than thrilled with Goldstar’s hair, overall, if you compare this piece to a similar one done just under a year ago, the improvements are plain to see.
Saturdays: I put a great deal of work into this, I enjoy the details, but I’m not entirely happy. I hope to attempt it again from a more dynamic angle. There’s also the issue of Barda’s right arm. It’s correct in terms of perspective, nevertheless, it feels short.
Wildcat: I began this in February for The 40’s Jam over at the drawing board. I knew at the time that with work, I wouldn’t likely have the time to do all the brickwork. Originally I wanted to do it all without taking any shortcuts. Now that summer break is about to start and the seniors have already finished school, I have more time to work on things. So I’ve been able to wrap it up. I didn’t stick true to my no shortcuts policy though. With the months that have passed, I just kind of wanted to get it done.
Starboy: This weekend I took some time for myself and did a drawing. I had originally wanted to do something with Starboy in the hospital cafeteria, hands on the glass, licking his lips as he stared at a pile of sloppy joes, but the nurses, the doctors, all the background characters would have taken more time than I had to put into place.
I first met Starboy in the pages of Justice Society of America (vol. 3). He is Thom Kallor, usually a member of the 31st century team The Legion of Superheroes. He traveled from his future to the Kingdom Come universe (recently re-created as Earth-22 at the conclusion of 52), and then to the present day. Thom claims to hear voices in his head and has been diagnosed as a borderline schizophrenic. When not performing his superheroic duties, he resides at the Sunshine Sanitarium (a mental hospital) and takes medications for his illness (both of which he does voluntarily); his favorite day at the hospital is Wednesday as that is the day sloppy joes are served (lip licking).
The Black Marvels: This was completed long enough after the other items in the June art update that I had originally intended to include it in a separate entry. Months passed before this could happen.
JLI: This is my dream team Justice League lineup. The central figure, Black Adam, is one of the darkest anti-heroes in the DC Canon. Just about everyone else on the page is a screwoff. I styled the image after classic League covers of the era (White Background, Early Colors).
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| Metropolis Heroes: Booster Gold, Superman and Supernova, flying over Metropolis. I’m not as satisfied with the halftones here as in the illustration at the bottom. Though it does have a nice eighties quality to it (ink). |
Cousins: A second entry for the PowerGirl Jam over at the drawingboard (Early Colors).
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Skyline: While more of a Booster Gold piece, this also serves as my third contribution to the Power Girl Jam. As I’ve gotten into the habit of over rendering all of my colors, I’m very happy as to how the relative simplicity of this color halftone turned out.
Gown, Girl and Field: The majority of what I’ve been doing in my free time lately has been super hero work. So here I wanted to make sure to include something a little bit more traditional and classy.
Blue and Gold: As a nod to the Golden Age controversy on Batman and Robin being a gay couple, a spoof Super Buddies TV promotional featured in the miniseries Formerly Known as the Justice League portrayed Booster Gold and his best pal Blue Beetle as A heterosexual dynamic duo for the new millennium. In the same series, Booster claimed to have married a much older wealthy woman, Gladys, hoping to inherit her fortune. She forced him to dress as Wonder Woman during intercourse (Booster Gold Headmorph).
Booster and Skeets: Booster Gold is a disgraced football player from the 31st century, he threw games. Working as night watchman at the Metropolis Museum, he stole a number of items and traveled back in time. Skeets is his robot sidekick. The duo uses their knowledge of the future to seek fame and fortune. This drawing took on a strange underwater atmosphere. I’d always intended it to look like Booster flying through the sky. Now, though, I look at it and imagine the hero on his way to deliver whatever it is he has clutched in his hand to Aquaman.
Powergirl Jam: Next month I’m slated to host the drawingboard jam session on Powergirl. As I’ll be hopefully knee deep in the job hunt I decided to draft my contribution up early. In drawing this up I suspect that I was influenced by Frank Quitely’s work on All-Star Superman.
Life on the River: I’m about done student teaching, a couple more lessons, 45 Honors Juniors’ research papers to grade and I’m done. The last couple days I’ve hardly even had class, there’s been testing. So, I’ve been working on this. The coloring I finished last night during Lost (detail).
While struggling through The Odyssey with my Essentials students I put these illustrations up on the dry erase board. Subbing I stumbled upon the realization that students who have no respect for education, who come from homes that have no respect for education, still respect a prolific doodler. In fact it seems their populations are less likely to infantilize or ghettoize their artist than are the more affluent. It was my goal to try to work this to my advantage. They might not respect the material, and they might not respect my mastery of it, but they can respect this. And if they can respect this, respect me for it, maybe it might cause them to reevaluate their stance on the material. As they may see value in me and I see value in it.
